High health price of burning wood
Some people in Fresno are still trying to heat their homes by burning wood. They save a little on PG&E but will pay in multiples with their health.
When you light a fire in your home, you increase the levels of fine particulates that you are breathing night and day by an average of 16 micrograms. A five microgram addition increases your chances of lung disease, emphysema, pulmonary hypertension, asthma and lung cancer by 80 percent.
As your bloodstream carries those particulates and their attached toxins to your heart, you increase your chances of myocardial infarction and stroke and venous insufficiency. It is known that these fine particulates bypass the blood-brain barrier, accelerating the incidence of all neurotoxic diseases (multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, pre-frontal dementia).
Your home can provide respite from Fresno’s high pollution levels. When you burn, you create an environment in your sanctuary that has even worse consequences than the air outside.
And when you burn, you increase the toxic environment for everyone who lives around you. Their children’s lungs will never develop completely. Their probability of suffering these diseases increases. Don’t burn.
Tess Jensen, Fresno
This story was originally published March 20, 2017 at 1:40 PM with the headline "High health price of burning wood."